Problem with Hauppauge Dual Tuner card.

[seymoria]

Hi.

I have installed a PVR 500 PCI card in my PC. I want to perform simultaneous recordings from two different channels.

I scheduled two recordings at the same time and for one of them, I checked the 'Record in background' function while for the other, I did not.

The file for which this function was unchecked was recorded OK. However, the file for which it was checked recorded as a 'blank file'. There was no channel in it, just a blank screen as if I had not connected the cable to my TV card.

I repeated this many times with same problem. The background recording function is not working properly, but if it is unchecked, the recorded file is OK.

The 2nd tuner does not seem to be connected to the cable. I understand that my card has only one cable-in which provides signal to both the tuners.

Both the tuners have been installed in my Windows XP system as shown in the Device Manager and also the WinTV Channel Manager.

Please advise as to what could be wrong here?

Regards.

[grossjamesh]

Have you tried their tech support. I have used them several time and they have been very helpful.

[RabidDog]

digital cable? or analog? is it a dual channel tuner? are the cable channels free to air?
Try two recordings in background mode..
Try two recordings in foreground mode.
Try one recordings in background mode..
Try one recordings in foreground mode.
Bring back speadsheet with tick for success / cross for failure.
How much cpu have you got?

[seymoria]

Hi.
Thank you for your response. Following is for your review.

I have an analogue cable, no digital. Yes, I have the Hauppauge PVR 500 dual tuner card. Yes, the cable is free to air.

Two Recordings in Background mode : Both the files get recorded. However, only one recording is OK. The other file does get recorded but it is a blank snowy screen (like as if there was no signal).

(The above problem is similar to when I make one rec in Foreground and other in Background mode (Only the file in Foreground mode is recorded properly while one in Background mode is a no-signal blank recording.

Two recordings in foreground mode : Only one file gets recorded. The program rejects the other schedule and doesn't perform any recording.

One recording in background mode : The file gets recorded OK.

One recording in foreground mode : The file gets recorded OK.

My CPU is 1.8 GHz P4 and have 512 MB RAM. I have an on-board 96 MB video card.

Awaiting further advice.
Regards.

[hudsonf]

In the recording software is the signal source set correctly for each tuner? Maybe you have one set to cable and the other set to antenna.

[RabidDog]

I suspect that you may only be able to record one channel at a time. I thought you were using a hauppage td500 which records DVB-T FTA(freeview). Your cable box is decoding only one channel at a time??. Probably you are not trying to record two unencrypted, unprotected channels . Do you need a viewing card to see your channels? . The hauppage td500 has a switch setting in the software which combines the output of the twin tuners, for weak signals.

What is the exact model number of your twin tuner??

Two separate inputs to your tuner card are possibly needed.
It wouldn't hurt to have more Cpu and a gig of ram.(but you should have sufficient)
You are watching too much Telly anyway, please go out and play cricket!

[usually_quiet]

I looked at Hauppauge's website for information on the PVR 500 and it listed the following functionality was available for Windows Vista Home Premium or Ultimate or Windows XP Media Center Edition:

Watch TV with the MyTV button in Media Center
Watch one TV show while recording another using WinTV-PVR-500's built-in dual hardware MPEG encoders.
Record two TV shows at once.

Your user profile says only Windows XP. Perhaps one can only use one tuner at a time if using another version of Windows XP? Ask Hauppauge tech support if it matters.

[hudsonf]

Maybe this site may be of help. http://www.shspvr.com/smf/

[seymoria]

Hi.

I have an analogue cable connection from my service provider and I change channels from my TV. I dont have any intermediate cable box. Btw, your suggestion is right; i am watching too much TV and should concentrate on other activities also. Its strange how could you guess..

I posted on the http://www.shspvr.com forums but no response.

Hauppauge tech support says this card can only be use with 3rd party applications like sageTV, GBPVR and Win XP MCE.

regards.

[usually_quiet]

Perhaps one of the tuners on your card is defective. While looking at posts at http://www.shspvr.com/smf/ I found this link to a thread in another forum with some information about the PVR-500's tuner problems and the 2 types of tuners used to build it: http://forums.snapstream.com/vb/showthread.php?t=33675